What are thoughts on actors?

I'm in the process of disecting a certain actor buy taking apart acting style, approach on roles, emphasis on character builds and all of that. My question is, would any of the listed items contribute to great acting? Am I missing something key in highlighting a defining moment for an actor? Trying to approach this in a critical way...

A great actor or actress is believable. Acting is selling to me.

Great acting is the ability to have the audience suspend their disbelief. The more they do this, the better they are at accomplishing their assignment.(It does get tricky when you're cast as a completely unlikable character[ e.g. The Old Man in Fool for Love]. You have to find something about the person that is likable enough to have had any interactions at all.)Today, I think that acting involves a combination of style and method. I'll stop now, because I can go on a long time. Keith is correct too by the way.

Acting is easy. We all do it. Convincing is another matter. Regardless of techniques or methodologies, great acting convinces us of reality observed, however unlike our reality it may be. It isnt in the script - though great scripts matter - nor in the direction. It is in the moment of observation.

All technique aside, it is when they bring their own personal truth to the role that we feel the performance. They trick US into believing them, probably because they believe themselves.

American or British? 'cause there are distinctive differences in "acting styles". and IMHO, it also has a lot to do with /where/ the actor was trained in acting. Movie or TV or stage? another telling element. Movies are a directors element, while stage is an actors element. an interesting observation is to see the actor in a live perfomance of a play. to see an interesting contast in acting "styles", I recommend watching King Lear with Sir Derek Jacobi and the New York perfomance with James Earl Jones. Same play...waaaay different kinds of performances.Quite a number of "good" actors are stage trained..first. A "star" is not necessarily an actor

I don't know that the way one lives an experience is something that can be analyzed..

Ability to empathize?

I dont know if this will help at all, for that certain actor I am sure it does greatly contribute to great acting but it may not for other actors. If there was one way to act or if there was a 'correct' way to act, everyone would do it. But there isn't every actor and actress must find what works for them for everyone has there own genius, it just becomes a matter of bringing out that genius to the stage or film

Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan are like the characters they play. They have a sense of humor in real life. Chris Tucker doesn't act. He just is himself.

I hope that actor is not Rainn Wilson. He gets rolls and characters that are not anything like his actual character in life. An actor takes the rolls that come his way and challenges his talent. What you see on the screen isn't always what they are like in life.

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